Bernard bailyns most popular book is the ideological origins of the american revolution. Hot dreams of liberty by bernard bailyn the new york. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading atlantic history. Bernard bailyn national endowment for the humanities neh. Bailyn gleens from these famous pamphlets and many others and presenting a very compelling history of the american revolution.
The idea of atlantic history volume 20 issue 1 bernard bailyn skip to main content accessibility help we use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Bailyn has won the pulitzer prize for history twice in 1968 and 1987. Bailyn has also done extensive work on immigration to the americas. Bernard bailyn s most popular book is the ideological origins of the american revolution.
Bernard bailyn, whose historical work centers on early american history, the american revolution, and the angloamerican world in the preindustrial era, is adams university professor and james duncan phillips professor of early american history, emeritus, at harvard university. The best books on atlantic history recommended by bernard bailyn. Bringing together elements of early modern european, african, and american historytheir common, comparative, and interactive aspectsatlantic history embraces essentials of western civilization, from the first contacts of europe with the western hemisphere to the independence movements and the globalizing. Search for library items search for lists search for contacts search for a library. For the uninitiated, atlantic history seems a rather muddled idea. Concept and contours by bernard bailyn lays the framework for what atlantic history is and how it should be studied. Here is a subject of staggering proportions and immense implications for the history. Bailyns purpose in his short and invaluable atlantic history is to trace and celebrate the evolution of atlantic history as an idea, and to set out his personal. Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. Concept and contours will serve current and future historians as both an effective introduction to the field and an advanced exploration of its historiography. Bernard bailyn makes an art of the writing of history. In this introduction to his largescale work the peopling of british north america, bernard bailyn identifies central themes in a formative passage of our history.
Professor bailyns atlantic is thus profoundly british, and very northern. The atlantic world had distinctive characteristics, especially the scale of land possessions of europeans and, of course, the great slave population, he says. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. He is the author of numerous books, including the ideological origins of the american revolution pulitzer and bancroft prizes and the ordeal of thomas hutchinson national book award.
Bernard bailyn paints a bloody picture of colonial life. In these probing essays, bernard bailyn explores the origins of the subject, its rapid development, and its impact on historical study. For many, it remains the most persuasive interpretation of the revolution. And indeed the entire subject has never been free from criticism, even by some who themselves contributed to it. For approximately half a century, bailyn has been the countrys most distinguished and influential scholar of the revolution, the author of numerous books and the winner of prizes by the cartload. Bernard bailyns american atlantic 49 bailyn sensed the rising popularity of atlantic approaches, and went on to found, inspire, and lead harvards international seminar on the history of the atlantic world, 15001800.
This might be one of the shorter books published by bernard bailyn in his long and. Now, from his vantage point as one of the leading figures in this field, bailyn has written a valedictory examination of its development and major issues. He also serves as a senior fellow in the society of fellows and is the director of the. Clearly these pieces build on work that produced voyagers to the west, but that work is itself part of a still larger, unfinished formulation, and so we must steal a glimpse into bailyns new atlantic history.
Bailyns purpose in his short and invaluable atlantic history is to trace and celebrate the evolution of atlantic history as an idea, and to set out his personal interpretation of its main contours in the period between the earliest european invasions of the americas and the american. As bernard bailyn describes in the opening pages of his most recent book, atlantic history has rapidly become a popular and significant field within the broader discipline of history. This volume contains two essays, each articulating a separate but linked vision of atlantic history. In these probing essays, bernard bailyn explores the origins of the subject. Harvard professor and pulitzer prizewinning historian bernard bailyn recommends reading on three centuries of empire, conflict and slave trading between the americas, europe and africa. The first, the idea of atlantic history, provides a reworking of an essay bernard bailyn published ten years ago in itinerario 1996. Concept and contours kindle edition by bailyn, bernard. As is the case with bailyns many other books, atlantic history is written in a clear and concise fashion regardless of the readers level of experience, it will. Bernard bailyns contribution to our understanding of early american history is so vast that its easy to forget hes still publishing books.
These radical ideas about power and liberty, and deeply rooted fears of conspiracy, had propelled americans in the 1760s and 1770s into the revolution, bailyn said. Bailyn s scholarship reveals a colonial world that is hard to see in buildings and other physical artifacts. In this book the historian bernard bailyn presents two essays. His writings on the american revolution, begun in the 1960s, remain required reading for any doctoral student studying for orals. Bernard bailyn international seminar on the history of. To anyone new to the idea of atlantic history, the first essay, essentially a historiographical essay, would be very helpful. Bringing together elements of early modern european, african, and american history their common, comparative, and interactive aspects atlantic history embraces essentials of western civilization, from the first contacts of europe with the western hemisphere to the independence movements and the globalizing. Bernard bailyn has 81 books on goodreads with 18769 ratings. How would it manifest its power in the realms of economics, war, power politics, and cultural exchange.
Best sellers todays deals new releases books electronics gift. Bringing together elements of early modern european, african, and american historytheir common, comparative, and interactive aspects. Bernard bailyn to the original text of what has become a classic of american historical literature, bernard bailyn adds a substantial essay, fulfillment, as a postscript. He first considers atlantic history as a subject of historical inquiryhow it evolved as a product of both the pressures of postworld war ii politics and the internal forces of scholarship itself. The idea of atlantic history volume 20 issue 1 bernard bailyn. Professor bailyn, a distinguished historian of colonial america at harvard university, has written an. Bailyn locates atlantic historys origins in the political and diplomatic world of the midtwentieth century. Start with the name atlantic history, which is a poor title for a. In 1998 the national endowment for the humanities selected him for the jefferson lecture. The first, the concept of the subtitle is a historiographic survey of the scholarly literature relating to the idea of atlantic history. There is no shinier brand name in the academy than bernard bailyn, who this very month, at age 92, puts another book, sometimes an art, on his groaning shelf. His book, which won the pulitzer and bancroft prizes in 1968, influenced an entire generation of historians. Here he discusses the intense, nationwide debate on the ratification of the constitution, stressing the continuities between that struggle over the foundations of the.
While not an exhaustive historiography, bailyn does discuss the founding of atlantic history as a subdiscipline as well as mention some of the major authors and works. He was countered by john adams, who, in thoughts on government, felt a more prudent course was in order. How ghastly were the beginnings of european america. Bailyn s purpose in his short and invaluable atlantic history is to trace and celebrate the evolution of atlantic history as an idea, and to set out his personal interpretation of its main contours in the period between the earliest european invasions of the americas and the american revolution. The paperback of the soundings in atlantic history.
He championed universal suffrage, the unicameral legislature and a clean break from england. The best books on atlantic history five books expert. The idea of atlantic history itinerario cambridge core. Bernard bailyn is the editor of pamphlets of the american revolution, the first volume of which, published in 1965, was awarded the faculty prize of the harvard university press for that year, and editor of the apologia of robert keayne 1965 and the twovolume debate on the constitution 1993. The ideological origins of the american revolution. Bringing together elements of early modern european, african, and american. Atlantic history is a newly and rapidly developing field of historical study. Most scholarship in atlantic history treats this ocean as a highway rather than as a historical agent. Among much else, he captures the early fragility of the british atlantic along with its emerging identities. Bailyn states that the reasoning behind writing the book is that previous historians focus too much on the imperial history of the atlantic world, when in fact the colonized areas had just as much of an effect.
Bernard bailyns conception of atlantic history does not. Atlantic history bernard bailyn harvard university press. Bernard bailyns last act an interview with the harvard. The atlantic history seminars directed by professor bailyn were, in their first years, limited in scope to those regions that would later become part of the united states. The second essay is more focused on the actual history of this vast geographic area and is likely to be of more interest to a general reader. Books by bernard bailyn author of the ideological origins. Atlantic history is a newly and rapidly developing field of histor. The genius and ambiguities of the american founders. Bernard bailyn, professor emeritus of history at harvard, recipient of the pulitzer and bancroft prizes, a winner of the national book. He has been a professor at harvard university since 1953. Bernard bailyn born september 9, 1922 is an american historian, author, and academic specializing in u. Art in the age of mass incarceration along with selected art from the book. Concept and contours bernard bailyn atlantic history is a newly and rapidly developing field of historical study.
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